Musical light show is far less complex than you might think

[Matt and Jason Tardy], who make up the musical performance duo known as AudioBody, were recently featured on Make: explaining how they put on one of their trademark segments. The most popular portion of their show features color changing tubes of light which the pair spin and fling around not unlike a higher-tech version of the Blue Man Group. While the visuals are pretty slick, the technique behind it is far simpler than most people initially imagine.

As you can see in video below, the tubes look to be nothing more than simple white lights. As the brothers work through their performance however, the tubes switch from white to blue and back again with a liquid-like transition between the colors.

The [Tardys] say that most people peg a microcontroller or other complex electronics as the source of their light wizardry, but the real answer is much simpler. Embedded in the end of each tube is a bright LED flashlight. A sliding blue filter positioned inside the tube provides the silky smooth transition between colors – no fancy electronics required.

It’s not being censored here, but on the YT page it self. They’ve disabled ratings on all their videos to avoid seeing the harsh truth that they’re as interesting as any interpretive dance troupe. As in they’re not interesting at all and nobody likes them.

Hey, sorry about the knee-jerk reaction to delete your comment on our YouTube video. You are right, we really shouldn’t be editing comments like that. We have removed the block on the “like” button and you are welcome to comment again.

Embedded in the end of each tube is a bright LED flashlight. A sliding blue filter positioned inside the tube provides the silky smooth transition between colors – no fancy electronics required.

Did HaD even watch the video? That’s not how it works. The tubes have an led flashlights at each end, one is filtered blue. Then there’s a ball in between the two that rolls back and forth blocking the light.